And so we come to the end of another year. Perhaps you have or will receive some gift cards and would like to spend some of them on books. You are a wise person! It has been an enjoyable twelve months sitting with new companions and old friends in my continued life of being a reader. Below are some of the books that challenged my thinking or brought me joy in recent months. Perhaps they might become your friends as well. The usual caveats apply: a recommendation does not mean I agree with everything in the book and I am an eclectic reader so not everything here will be your cup of tea.
Now, onto the books…
Forgive by Tim Keller. All of what you expect to find in one of his books and this time on perhaps one of the most important, yet difficult, topics: forgiveness. Keller diagnoses the various deficient views of forgiveness, sets forth the biblical vision, and then provides some practical suggestions. Most helpful is his discussion of the tension between forgiveness and justice.
Seculosity and Low Anthropology by Dave Zahl. I was introduced to Zahl’s ministry (Mockingbird) and writing by several pastor friends this past year. This led me to these two books, both of which place a premium on grace. The former considers all the various ways (politics, religion, parenting, etc.) we try to satisfy our hunger to be enough and the latter asks the question of whether perhaps we have too high of expectations of each other as people. The bonus is that Dave lives and ministers here in Charlottesville and I had a delightful lunch with him this past November and hope to do so again in the new year.
Strange New World by Carl Trueman. This is Trueman’s popularized version of his more technical work, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self. In this book, Trueman explains how we have arrived at our current place of identity politics and expressive individualism and what are the implications of these changes, particularly for Christians. It is a sobering read but is an excellent one stop place to begin to understand our times.
I found myself for a season reading books on technology. Three were especially helpful and well-written. Restless Devices by Felicia Wu Song and The Life We are Looking For by Andy Crouch deal more with the philosophical, theological, and social issues surrounding our understanding of what it means to be human, our design for relationship, and the ways technology acts as both facilitator and detriment to human flourishing. Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism is a more practical book that sets forth a rationale and plan to minimize our reliance on technology and to keep it from becoming our masters instead of our tools.
On the C.S. Lewis front, The Chronicles of Transformation edited by Leonard Delorenzo provided insightful essays on the spiritual formation aspects of each volume in the Chronicles of Narnia. Also, the third volume of Harry Lee Poe’s biography of Lewis (The Completion of C.S. Lewis) arrived this fall. While I haven’t read it yet, the first two volumes were excellent and I expect no less from the final one.
On the fiction front, I dipped my toes into various short stories, mainly of Flannery O’Connor, Wendell Berry, and Mark Twain. After tackling some longer classics earlier in the year, I needed a bit of a break and short stories are a wonderful alternative. For mystery fans, Lightning Strike by William Kent Krueger, is the latest in his Cork O’Connor series (which starts with Iron Lake). Taking place in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota, this whole series is incredible. As I wrote in a review for Goodreads, when I read the first book, I thought “This guy is a good mystery writer” but now my assessment is “This guy is a great writer who happens to write mysteries”. His stand alone novel, Ordinary Grace, is also fantastic. Another new series is by Anthony Horowitz, known for his Alex Rider books for young adults and the TV show, Foyle’s War. Here, Horowitz casts himself as a main character in the book. Well-executed stories, the first is titled The Word is Murder.
2023 looks to be another great year for books. I’m looking forward to Colin Hansen’s biography of Tim Keller as well as Jessica Hooten Wilson’s Reading for the Love of God. I plan to re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in preparation for doing some other reading about Tolkien. A new volume of essays by Wendell Berry sits on my bookshelf calling to me as do several volumes on biblical theology.
As always, I encourage you to find what you like and to read. If you read 10 pages a day each day for a year, that would be 3,650 pages. That may not seem like a lot but that is probably 18 or so decent sized novels, biographies, histories, mysteries, books of poetry, theological works, or whatever floats your boat.
So Tolle Lege! (which is Latin for ‘Take up and read’)
